November 2008
Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at the Scuppernong Gazette Ingrid Lemme Neli Lemme Jimmy Fleming Andy Jones and all our wonderful Advertisers who made this issue the Best Ever!
Issue 15 www.ScuppernongGazette.com
Tyrrell County’s Premier Publication
Photos by Neli Lemme
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INGRID & NELI LEMME - JIMMY FLEMING - ANDY JONES
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Quote of the Month
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“We do Three Types of Jobs Here... GOOD, FAST AND CHEAP - You May Choose Any Two! “ Seen at the lemonade stand at the Scuppernong River Festival.
DEAR READER
Though live Thanksgiving turkeys have been presented intermittently to presidents since the Lincoln administration, the current ceremony dates to 1947, when the first National Thanksgiving Turkey was presented to President Harry Truman.
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Reader from Tennessee
We are living in exciting times, thats for sure. We celebrated a wonderful Scuppernong River Festival and had so much fun and met so many interesting people that we have to share. Then we received nice e-mails from Texas and Tennessee, ya’ll see. This year marks the 61st
year ago I don't know if I will return since I no longer have family there. Time seems to I would just like to say thank you for publishing move so fast when you get older. I remember a time when the big thing to do was cruise up and this to the web for us who do not live in the area. I grew up in Columbia and to see all the down main street and sit in Swains grocery store parking lot (where human services is now) things that are going on brings tears to my eyes and talk with friends on a Friday and Saturday every time I look at the Gazette. I now live in night. Boy, how I miss those days. Again, Tennessee and since my grandmother passed a
anniversary of the National Thanksgiving Turkey presentation at the White House and by then we will know who the next President and First Lady of our great nation will be. Have a wonderful and relaxing ;) holiday with your family and friends and God bless America! thank you for taking the time to publish this paper and making us all feel at home again. Kim Spencer Poff, 416 Indian Hills Drive, Dayton Tn 37321, kimpo101@yahoo.com
Man of the Month - Lloyd Armstrong This kind, handsome, friendly, community oriented guy runs the Tyrrell County Farm Bureau, and is a caring father of two teenagers. Small photos feature Lloyd sponsoring and running the annual horseshoe contest.
Tyrrell County November Calender of Meetings and Event --------------------November 02-03, 2007 Columbia Rockfish Tournament November 02-19, 2007 CMS Annual Fruit Sale November 10, 2007 Book Art Workshop at Pocosin Arts November 03, 2008 Columbia's Board of Aldermen Monthly Meeting November 03, 2008 Tyrrell County Board of Education Meeting November 03, 2008 Tyrrell County Board of Commissioners Meeting November 11, 2008 Tyrrell County Planning Board Meeting November 12, 2008 Tyrrell County Chamber of Commerce Meeting November 13, 2008 Columbia's Planning Board Meeting November 17, 2008 Tyrrell County Board of Commissioners Meeting November 18, 2008 Rural Health Association Monthly Meeting November 21, 2008 Soul Food Celebration
...On the Board Walk... Couple of the Month
David & Fiona Finch, Tyrrell Chamber Distinguished Citizens of the Year, photo of the couple in the red car at the Scuppernong River Festival parade.
GOOD TEACHER DIXIE
ARMSTRONG
Baby of the Month
Pet of the Month
Boat of the Month
Adorable baby girl Saylor Grace Swain, in photo above with her parents Lacie and Hunter Swain
Cute, little Roxy, the family loves this friendly little fellow very much and it sure is adorable.
May-Craft's 1700 Skiff is just the thing for reaching those back bays or stalking some serious fish.
GOOD TIME
Soul Food Celebration
GOOD DEAL
CMS Annual Fruit Sale
Kids of the Month
Adrianna Harris and Ross Williams had a ball playing together at the annual horse shoe contest at the river festival.
DONT MISS Dec. 4 to 7 River Town Christmas
GOOD WEBSITE www.Columbia IBX.com
Lady of the Month
Organization of the Month
“Relay for Life” brought back to Tyrrell County by Vicki Waters and Angie E. Sexton, Tyrrell Co Asst CSC
Tessi Hollis, here donating blood in the American Red Cross Bloodmobile at the 4-H Center on the annual Family Fun Day event.
Book of the Month
“A Taste of Heaven” 139 Years of Food and Fellowship at Columbia Missionary Baptist Church, presented by Mrs. Vi Crowder at river festival
Theresa & Rob October 4th, 2008 At Kitty Beach
Photos by Lemme Lemme
Cornbread and Scuppernong Wine Publisher, I really enjoyed your gazette; it makes me yearn for North Carolina. It is a true representation of its people and culture. I look forward to reading it in the future. I included a poem I wrote about Scuppernong Wine that was made for a few of my relatives who have enjoyed North Carolina’s pleasantries. Sincerely yours, Bryan Coltrane. - ( I live in Winkler County Texas and I just randomly searched through North Carolina links and came across it. We have land up in the mountains near the Carolina border in Virginia and we were some of the first settlers of Randolph County North Carolina.)
Cornbread and Scuppernong Wine The rays of the autumn moon rise on the horizon, winter is not far off. The light of the day has been gone for hours and all that remains is night, and the smell of food in the oven. Each sip of the Scuppernong wine is warm to the touch, inside your lips and inside your soul. The sweet taste that lingers, long after the golden sun set, and the honey moon peeks its eyes over the wooded hillside. Thoughts float in the waters of your mind, taking you back to a time, when sweet wine lingered long on summer days. With an innocence not quite lost, and the love that was not quite gained. Memories fill you, like a walk by the creek, with honey suckle kisses and raspberry dreams. The lightning bugs dancing around you, listening to the music of your heart, and the rhythm of your eyes. Nothing fills those autumn days, like a pan of cornbread and Scuppernong wine, and memories that last, long past, the sweetness of that time.
Pocosin Arts Folk School featured on UNC-TV’s North Carolina Now Pocosin Arts Folk School was recently featured on UNC-TV’s nightly news broadcast, North Carolina Now. The feature is part of a series “NC Rising” which identifies and highlights the many success stories of North Carolina’s lower wealth rural areas and areas that once thrived on crops such as tobacco, but are now transitioning into a new global economy. This ongoing series will have statewide reach to raise awareness of these effective revitalization efforts so that they might be replicated in other areas of the state and beyond.
In each of the 12 monthly segments, the series will examine how local communities are reinventing themselves through innovative options such as tourism, small business, alternative crops, bio-technology and bio-manufacturing, food processing, military contracts and education. The segment to be broadcast on the 13th was developed to show case how the arts, and particularly Pocosin Arts, have influenced the growth and development of the Town of Columbia. Reporter, Elizabeth Wilder and videographer Alan Brown visited Columbia on two occasions. During the first visit Elizabeth interviewed Pocosin Arts Board members, Art Keeney, President and CEO of The East Carolina Bank; Alice Keeney, Hyde County Planner and Rhett White, Columbia’s Town Manager. In addition Elizabeth interviewed Michael Griffin, Columbia’s Mayor; Jana Rawls, Principal of Columbia Middle School and a pottery student at Pocosin Arts; Rick Smith, a founding member of Pocosin Arts carving club and Pocosin Arts’ Executive Director, Feather Phillips. On September 20th the production crew returned to Columbia to document Pocosin Arts’ annual fundraising event “Steamed Blue to Red-Hot, Lively” art auction and crab dinner. Wilder and Brown were able to speak with Pocosin Arts supporters and to experience the positive energy that this community of supporters generates. EDITOR: This project - series “NC Rising” is funded by the Golden LEAF Foundation, a nonprofit corporation created in 1999 to receive one-half of the funds coming to North Carolina from a master settlement agreement with cigarette manufacturers. In turn, the Foundation is helping North Carolinians make the transition from a tobacco-dependent economy through grants and investments that will positively affect the long-term economic advancement of the state. Golden LEAF gives priority in its grant-making to tobacco-dependent and economically distressed counties.
Tyrrell Trivia with Jimmy Fleming Question # 1: Hog killin' day used to be a big event in the lives of Tyrrell County folks. It was not just a day of hard work but a social event that brought family, neighbor, and friend together to share the chores. A hog killin' provided many good things to eat such as fresh pork, pork to salt, lard, and sausage. One of my favorites is the byproduct of trying lard in the old cast iron wash pot. The chunks of skin and meat left after the fat has been removed can be eaten as they are or ground for making biscuits or cornbread. What do Tyrrell County folks call the crunchy meat skins left after trying lard?
Question # 2:
For many years boat travel was the primary way of transporting people, goods, and mail to and from Tyrrell County. In 1910, a boat newly fitted from sail to steam docked at Columbia and was completely destroyed by fire on her maiden-voyage from Elizabeth City. Can you name this boat whose remains are still in the Scuppernong River and from which many artifacts have been retrieved?
Question # 3:
There is an odd shaped body of water that is located in the southeastern section of our county. It has been the site of numerous fish houses and lumber docks in the past. Can you name this body of water that is named for it's unusual shape? First person to answer all three questions correctly and emailing us the answers with your Post Office mailing address to NeliP@mac.com will get a surprise gift by snail mail ...
Photo by Neli Lemme
"Nights in Rodanthe" Adrienne Willis (Diane Lane), a woman with her life in chaos, retreats to the tiny coastal town of Rodanthe, in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, to tend to a friend's inn for the weekend. Here she hopes to find the tranquility she so desperately
MOVIE OF THE MONTH
A DOCTOR (GERE) WHO
IS TRAVELING TO SEE HIS ESTRANGED SON SPARKS WITH AN UNHAPPILY MARRIED WOMAN (LANE) AT A NORTH CAROLINA INN.
needs to rethink the conflicts surrounding her - a wayward husband who has asked to come home, and a teenaged daughter who resents her every decision. Almost as soon as Adrienne gets to Rodanthe, a major storm is forecast and Dr. Paul
Flanner (Richard Gere) arrives. The only guest at the inn, Flanner is not on a weekend escape but rather is there to face his own crisis of conscience. Now, with the storm closing in, the two turn to each other for comfort and, in one magical weekend, set in motion a life-changing romance that will resonate throughout the rest of their lives. FYIIt’ s a scenic 1-1/4 hour ride to Rodanthe from Columbia.
“A Trip of a Lifetime” Growing up in Tyrrell County has been an amazing experience for me. I have been able to experience things that people in larger cities would never dream of or maybe never even heard of such things as, frog gigging, spot lighting, or even snipe hunting, just to name a few. Last March, I was fortunate enough to experience “A Trip of a Lifetime”. Eight men including myself flew out of Raleigh, NC to Guatemala, South America for a week of fishing. Boy was I in for a treat! Me, fishing in a third world country! Unbelievable!
Upon our arrival, my first instinct was how grateful we should all be for what we have. I witnessed people living in metal shacks and young children not in school. Children were running around in the local commons selling fruit and handmade clothing to support their families. Guatemala’s culture is very different from ours, but the scenery was spectacular! Our first day of fishing was awesome. We had 3 hook ups with pacific sailfish and 3 releases, with many more sited during the day. This continued throughout the week and it only got better. We saw humpback whales, sailfish free jumping, two at a time, 50 yards in front of us, and huge manta-rays swimming under our boat. We ate fresh pineapple for breakfast with a back drop of smoking volcano’s and black sandy beaches with beautiful palm trees. The people there were very friendly and reminded me of home. They were like friends you have had forever. I have learned so much about fishing and hunting in Tyrrell County but, everyone deserves “A Trip of a Lifetime” no matter where you live. Did I mention how unbelievable the fishing was? Setting hooks & Reeling like hell, Captain Andy Jones www.bullsbayinshorecharters.com
Tyrrell Talents in the Media
Blackwater Band was featured in Latitude Magazine as one of 36 NC musicians/groups to see. “Blackwater Band hails from Columbia, N.C., combining classic rock and blues. Originally playing together at open mic jams, Blackwater
BLACKWATER CALENDER 11-08-2008 at Rock Fish Tournament in Columbia, NC
house and show their audience a good time.” latitudemagazine.com
TYRRELL ARTIST FEATURED IN NEW YORK PUBLICATION A Hampton, New York publication has featured Tyrrell County Artist, Barbara Carol Roughton Fleming as
Made in Columbia DIXIE Girl Swamp Sauce, call Paulette at 252-796-4243 for Phone Orders!
Dream Artist of the
Band is now performing all over the Carolinas. Fusing their collective talent and experience, members Ty Fleming (vocals, rhythm guitar), Tracy Godwin (lead vocals), Jimmy Fleming (drums) and Brandan Brickhouse (bass) know how to rock the
Month in their October edition. Barbara's painting of a Blue Heron on a discarded glass door panel is shown in their publications website. Recently the door panel fetched a incredible price of $2750 at the Pocosin benefit auction. The Montauk Sun dubbed "Montauks favorite publication" is found at over 45 locations throughout the
Hamptons of NY. The area has a reputation as an artist colony, boasting the residence of painter Thomas Moran, Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner and Willem de Kooning. - reports Tom Killian of www.IBXarts.com
Here performing at the 1st annual Tyrrell County Idol Contest at the Scuppernong River Festival is very talented Brian Cooper
Our Tyrrell County Idol Judges
Photos by Neli Lemme \
The Estelle Randall... The Estelle Randall was described as "one of the largest and most magnificent passenger and freight steamers in North Carolina". It made stops at towns along the Albemarle Sound on its run between Elizabeth City and Norfolk, Virginia. During one of these stops at the town of Columbia in Tyrrell County, the Estelle Randall burned and sank while tied to the wharf. The ship's cook died, but the remaining fourteen crew members narrowly escaped the late evening fire. The 112 foot long vessel was built in 1898 at Baltimore by William E. Woodall and Company. Its machinery was furnished by the
Campbell and Zell Company. The Estelle Randall was originally owned by Captain E.S. Randall, who operated several large passenger steamers on the Potomac River. By 1909 the steamer had been bought by the Farmers' and Merchants' Line of North Carolina and was then overhauled in Norfolk for use in the Albemarle region. Soon after, on January 18, 1910, the Estelle Randall was consumed by the fire of unknown origin and was a total loss. The North Carolina Underwater Unit has been spearheading an effort to record and recover significant portions of the wreck's machinery and artifactual content prior to a waterfront clearing project. The work is a cooperative effort between the Underwater Archaeology Unit and Columbia and Tyrrell County to conduct research and restoration on the remains of the Estelle Randall.
Educating demonstrations at the Scuppernong River Festival
Photos by Neli Lemme
...the Estelle Randall. The majority of excavation, which was necessary for the recovery of the machinery, has been conducted by volunteer divers Eddie Congleton, Mitch Moore and Kenneth Bland. During this work they recovered a large variety of shipboard implements, personal effects, and machinery accessories such as steam gauges and grease lubricators. With the help of heavy equipment and operators donated by Waff Contracting, Inc. of Edenton, the machinery from the Estelle Randall was recovered in November 1992. The major items retrieved were a vertical, direct-acting, compound steam engine fitted with a surface
condenser; a double-acting, vertical air pump; a duplex feed-water pump; an early Westinghouse generator housing and the ship's rudder. The Unit is in the process of inventorying and stabilizing the many small artifacts. Within the next year restoration will begin on the machinery. A collection of small artifacts is now on display in Columbia and it is hoped that the interest generated will lead to a local museum that deals with the area's maritime history and features the Estelle Randall. by Mark Wilde-Ramsing, Underwater Unit, NC Office of State Archaeology
Note from Mark Wilde-Ramsing, photo top right
The artifact mentioned in the article are still on display in Columbia (at the old Theater). There is, however, is now a good assortment of Estelle Randall artifacts on display at the Museum of the Albemarle. The North Carolina Transportation museum is also interested in refurbishing and displaying the ship's massive steam engine if and when it is transported from our headquarters in Kure Beach to their facility near Salisbury.
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SCUPPERNONG gazette is published monthly and distributed in print in Columbia, NC at the beginning of each month. You may read the Scuppernong Gazette a few days earlier on our website and you can flip pages online at www.ScuppernongGazette.com Please drop your e-mail in the web mailbox and handle your FREE on-line subscription.
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